Fixing old windows with broken weights
I bought an old Victorian in Ditmas 10 days ago and realized for the 1dt time today that ALL of the windows on the 1st floor are broken. The ropes are cut & so none of the upper panes stay up unless the windows are locked. Does anyone here know how much it will cost…
I bought an old Victorian in Ditmas 10 days ago and realized for the 1dt time today that ALL of the windows on the 1st floor are broken. The ropes are cut & so none of the upper panes stay up unless the windows are locked. Does anyone here know how much it will cost to have them repaired? Wide molding will have to be taken off I imagine & then the windows taken out to the rope can be re-strung & attached. I need a sense of $ cost per window & if possible a suggestion on who can do the work. My floors are being refinished & I have no way to air the plae out so I can work there. Thank you! (we move in on the 23rd of Feb & there’s MUCH to do in the interim!)
There is a company called Allshash window repair located in Forest Hills, search web…they can do this for you.
Better yet, you give me a good lead on a house, I’ll come do this for you. Only half-joking.
andru3@gmail.com
By the way, how did you find your house? My wife and I are looking there, too. The market does not appear to have a lot of Ditmas Park fixeruppers right now.
This is not a difficult job that can be done in about 30 minutes with materials in hand. I also think regular sash cord is fine, will last several decades if you don’t get the cheap stuff, and will be much easier to handle if you’re doing this yourself.
For most double hung windows, you will have to remove the left and right window stops (vertical, flat strip of wood holding the interior sash in place. Pry the stops off carefully using a wide and stable putty knife, tapping it in with a hammer.
With the stops out of the way, the inside sash will slide out and you will see the slots designed for the sash cord and knot. If you need access to the second sash, will will need to remove at least one and likely both vertically parting beads, which separate the two sashes in their channels.
If they are in good condition, the parting beads should be easy to pry out intact, but watch for nails that may have been used to tack them in place.
Getting access to the weight that has fallen into is pocket is usually a matter of breaking out a wooden access panel located low in the frame of the window designed exactly for this, sometimes secured by screws.
Threading the new rope through the pully and down the cavity is fairly straight-forward, as is tying it and knotting it on either end (copy the original knot). The length of the sash cord is simply a fucntion of the distance the weight needs to travel without bottoming out.
I would also say that insulation in this cavity is NOT a good idea if you expect the weight and cord to flow freely. If you ever replace the windows and can do without the cavity, by all means, insulate. I found that stuffing loose fiberglass insulation or rock wool through the hole left once the pully is removed works best.
Good luck!
Welcome to owning an old house.
Propping up the sash with different size sticks is part of the gameplan until you can repair the cord/chain for each pulley.
The wood that covers the channel where the weight is can be removed….gingerly!!
Then you restore the chain or even rope…Chain, of course is more durable. Keep in mind that the pocket/channel where the weight is also represents a heating/insulation gap. You should take advantage of each opening to put in some insulation…it really does tighten things up and reduce heat loss.
The Bear
Good Questin 11:01 unfortunately he missed a few things … an eve rotted through and some plumbing things in the basement but I can’t go back in time … if I ever buy another house I’ll pick a better inspector. We also got this house for a very good price so I would have proceeded with the purchase w/o negotiating the price down even if I’d known all of these things.
This won’t be helpful at all – but how did the inspector not see this???
BTW,if you need to open a window to air out the room before your windows are repaired, you could always prop the sash open with a stick.
The molding (window casing) dose not have to be removed. Sash weights are accessible through the pocket cover or in the worst-case scenario with a hole saw after removing the parting bead. It doesn’t require any specialized tools, just know how. Check into a book called “working windows” by Terry Meany and sashchain.com or sashweight.com (same site)